Manchester City endured their second pre-season friendly of the summer by taking on AmaZulu in Durban.
The club began the reign of Manuel Pellegrini with a 2-0 defeat to Supersport on Sunday and will be looking for their first win under the Chilean.
City are still in search of their first win of the new era, after a late defeat to at the Moses Mabhida stadium.
Read how the action unfolded in our live commentary below.
Good evening and welcome to Sports Mole's live coverage from Durban where Manchester City take on AmaZulu.
It may only be a friendly, but City will be very eager to win tonight after began the reign of Manuel Pellegrini with a 2-0 defeat to Supersport on Sunday.
However, while a win would represent the first of the Pellegrini era, the man himself won't be there as he has had to fly home to Chile for personal reasons. Therefore, Brian Kidd is in charge of last season's FA Cup finalists.
I'll bring you the team news as soon as I get it, but it has been quite a busy summer already for megabucks City.
The club have brought in Jesus Navas and most recent Alvaro Negredo from Sevilla, with the purchase of Fernandinho from Shakhtar Donetsk sandwiched in between. Decent business so far from them, but you have to question the fee they have spent on the trio.
City have also been linked with a number of players, with Fiorentina striker Stevan Jovetic the latest to be tipped to head to the Etihad.
On the other side of transfer business, City have sold former skipper Carlos Tevez to Juventus for a deal worth around £10m, whereas they today lost Maicon to Serie A outfit Roma.
I don't expect City's business to be done and dusted yet either.
Right, I've got team news to bring you.
CITY XI: Hart, Richards, Nastasic, Kompany, Kolarov, Nasri, Toure, Milner, Sinclair, Fernandinho, Dzeko
So as you can see, we'll get another good look tonight at new boy Fernandinho in a City shirt. There are also starts for Scott Sinclair, Edin Dzeko and Micah Richards.
They may not be starting but Argentine duo Sergio Aguero and Pablo Zabaleta have also joined up with the squad after an extended break away. They both begin tonight on the bench.
Right we've heard from City, but time to bring you some brief information on AmaZulu.
AmaZulu are one of the oldest teams in South Africa and were formed by migrant workers in 1932. They finished 12th last season and celebrated their 80th anniversary in 2012 by losing a friendly 1-0 to Manchester United thanks to a single goal by Federico Macheda.
Their home ground, the Moses Mabhida Stadium, holds up to 54,000 fans and they are coached by South African native Craig Rosslee.
Just over 10 minutes to go now until the start of the match.
The teams are both out in Durban, and we'll be underway in just a few short minutes on the day of Nelson Mandela's 95th birthday.
A choir was on the field singing just then for Nelson Mandela as the players entered the pitch, lovely touch.
All the handshakes and posing for pictures are currently taking place.
For your information, Alvaro Negredo is rumoured to be undergoing a medical in Manchester as we speak.
So City are preparing to take kickoff, they will play from left to right in their sky blue shirts with white shorts and socks. AmaZulu are in the opposite direction, sporting green from top to toe with white trim.
CITY GET US UNDERWAY!
Slow start to this match as you may expect, City have had practically 100% possession.
AmaZulu starting to see a bit more of the ball now, but neither side has managed to create a chance on goal just yet.
Manchester City start to come forward now looking dangerous and win a free kick, Nasri knocks it to Dzeko on the edge of the box who goes down under a heavy challenge to win the decision.
Nasri and Kolarov are both lining this up, slight left of centre from about 25 yards out.
CHANCE! It's Nasri who takes the kick and he curls it with his right foot towards the near post, but the keeper manages to get two hands on it and push it around the post.
Not much has happened since the Nasri effort, and that's about all there is to talk about from the opening 10 minutes of the match. Apart from the racket being generated from a stadium full of vuvuzelas.
AmaZulu start to bring the ball forward down the right, but Fernandinho puts a strong foot in there and moves the ball away.
Nice play for City as they nearly function a goalscoring opportunity. Nasri passes it to Yaya Toure on the edge of the box who plays a lovely quick pass into Milner. The England international tries to whip the ball in towards Dzeko, but AmaZulu can clear the danger. Eventually that is.
The game's gone a bit quiet in the past few minutes.
GOAL! AmaZulu 1-0 Manchester City (Bongani Ndulula)
Well this is a shock, and it's an awful goal to concede from City's point of view. Kolarov plays an awful pass back from the left-back position, and Ndulula nips in ahead of Hart, goes round the keeper and slots it into the back of the net. AmaZulu lead.
City have responded well since going behind, they've had a lot of the ball and try an effort on goal in the form of Nastasic. It's come off horribly for him though from range, and spins behind for a goal kick.
GOAL! AmaZulu 1-1 Manchester City (James Milner)
Well City weren't behind for long, Scott Sinclair plays a lovely cross in from the left, Toure's header doesn't come off right but falls into the path of Milner, who from an acute angle smashes it into the far corner. All square in Durban.
CHANCE! City should be ahead, and it's Nasri again with the chance. He is threaded through into free space on the left of the box, but his sidefoot effort is saved by the onrushing goalkeeper.
City coming forward all the time at the moment, James Milner looking good on the right flank.
AmaZulu have a corner, but it is cleared away by Kolarov.
City win a corner but they were in a really good position just then. A lovely passing move sees Micah Richards played in on the right side of the area. He looks for a cutback into the box but it's cleared behind. He probably would have been better off going for a low powerful cross then. Lovely build-up play though from Toure and Milner.
Still all City in Durban, not clear chances though for a while. The final ball isn't good enough from the Premier League outfit at the moment.
BREAKING NEWS Some news just in that Fiorentina have announced that they have reached an agreement with Manchester City over the signing of Stevan Jovetic. Even when they're playing, City are still looking to buy.
AMAZULU CHANGES Ayanda Diamini is coming on in place of Bongani Ndulula, while Bonginkosi Macala makes way for Carlington Nyadombo.
There will be two minutes of added time at the end of this first half.
Dzeko has a decent header on goal but he is flagged for offside after Milner's delicate chip across the area.
HALF TIME: AmaZulu 1-1 Manchester City
So we head into the break all square in Durban, not the liveliest game in the world but not the worst either. Expecting lots of changes at the interval.
Bongani Ndululu put the hosts ahead before James Milner's equaliser shortly after.
While the players recover from the first half, here is more on the news that Fiorentina have agreed to sell Stevan Jovetic to Manchester City.
The players are back out for the second half, a couple of changes have been made.
WE'RE BACK UNDERWAY IN DURBAN!
Javi Garcia is one of the players who has come on at half time, but I'm still searching for any more.
Pablo Zabaleta and Jack Rodwell have also come on as well as Javi Garcia.
Micah Richards, Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany are the men who have made way.
Nasri is down after a strong challenge, but he eventually gets back to his feet.
CHANCE! First chance of the second half falls to City as Edin Dzeko holds the ball up on the right side of the box. He uses his strength before playing the ball to the edge of the D, where Rodwell meets it with a sidefoot. However, his shot is straight at the keeper.
CHANCE! Rodwell has another chance, this time chipped in down the left before blasting the ball into the sidenetting.
YELLOW CARD Samir Nasri is booked for arguing with an AmaZulu player after an earlier challenge.
Not too much to report at the moment, the ball seems to be rooted to the centre circle where the two sides are exchanging possession.
CHANCE! As I say that, Dzeko very nearly puts City in front. A lovely cross is put in by Sinclair, and Dzeko opens up his body to guide the ball towards the far corner, only for the keeper to pull off a great save.
CITY CHANGE Costel Pantilimon comes on in goal for City as Joe Hart makes his way off. A rare goalkeeper swap.
City still looking for this second goal, have dominated possession in recent moments but are moving sideways rather than forwards.
CITY CHANGE Gareth Barry is coming on for Fernandinho, who has put in a decent shift today. Those two will be completing for a place in the side for this season.
CITY CHANGES Samir Nasri and Matija Nastasic have gone off while Denis Suarez and Joleon Lescott are on.
Triple change for City coming up.
CITY CHANGES Milner, Kolarov and Dzeko are off while Abdul Razak, Dedryck Boyata and Alex Nimely come on.
All the changes seem to have killed City's momentum a bit, but with this only being a pre-season friendly, I shouldn't think Brian Kidd will be too bothered.
CHANCE! Nice build-up play from City and through Nimely in particular, whose reverse pass finds the feet of Sinclair, but the former Swansea City man can only drag his shot from the right across the face of goal.
Nothing has really happened since the Sinclair chance, Amazulu don't have the quality to attack the City end. I know they scored earlier, but they were given a massive assist by Kolarov.
CHANCE! Dlamini has an opportunity for AmaZulu, but he shoots over the bar from the edge of the box.
PENALTY TO AMAZULU!
GOAL! AmaZulu 2-1 Manchester City (Carlington Nyadombo)
Nyadombo goes down the middle and scores what must be the winning goal.
FULL TIME: AmaZulu 2-1 Manchester City
Well I wasn't expecting that. At 1-1, it only looked as if City would be the team to net a winner, but with moments to go, AmaZulu have caused a huge upset to delight their home crowd and take the win.
So that's two defeats in two games under Manuel Pellegrini, not a great start to the new era at the Etihad. But of course this is only pre-season, so I'm not sure that anyone at the club will be too downbeat about it.
That's it from me tonight, I hope you enjoyed the game, until next time, goodbye.
Written by
Matt Cotton
Matt Cotton
